A Man on an Island Ch. 05

It wasn't a big stretch to see that lunch was going to be at least a little problematic with Rufus along, since there weren't exactly any restaurants or bistros which would allow a dog inside, so they stopped at the sub shop and Sylvia stayed outside with Rufus while Cale bought them their meals and they walked back to the truck and ate there.

In the middle of that, Sylvia looked at him a little blankly for a moment and he asked.

"Neither of us has a Christmas tree!" she exclaimed. Cale was about to say that it didn't matter to him. He hadn't had a tree at all the previous Christmas and has just spent the time at home alone. But he could see that it meant something to Sylvia, so he nodded, "We can get one at a tree farm that I know on the way home."

He didn't appear to have noticed it, but Sylvia caught the way that he'd said it. Home. On the way home. She realized that she just liked the familiar sound of it.

"Ok," she said, "I'm looking forward to being with you for Christmas, Cale. That's ok, right?"

"Yeah," he said, looking a little surprised, "I guess that I assumed that you would be. I know that I'd love that."

The actual deed was a lot of fun and nonsense with Rufus along, but the tree lay tied neatly in the bed of his truck while they sipped hot chocolate before heading back. "I'm actually starting to enjoy Christmas," she smiled at him, "I'm amazed. My first thought was that I wouldn't be anything but miserable, so I'd just ignore the whole thing. Thanks for that, Cale. I've always loved Christmas."

After that, it was back to the farm and there were more chores to be done, but the three of them finally drove to Cale's home after Sylvia raided her own refrigerator for the steaks that she'd decided they were having for dinner. As she marinated them, she handed him a pair of potatoes and he looked at her with raised eyebrows for a moment.

"Well I don't need you to hatch them for me, Cale, they're for dinner, so I need you to wash them." He laughed and turned on the faucet.

Over dinner, it was plain that the weather was closing in again as the snow began to blow, but none of them cared. They were used to it and it wasn't a thought to them. "We forgot the tree," Cale said suddenly, "I ought to get it out of the truck and lean it up against the house. We can take it to your place tomorrow."

"Hell no," she said, "We're putting it up right here. This is where we're going to be this Christmas while I lick my wounds."

"But I only have a few ornaments and I'm pretty sure that I lost the lights when I moved."

"You leave that to me," she smiled, "Let's get that tree up so that it can fall properly."

"I know what you mean," he said, "so that the branches can ease out and relax where we stand it."

"Right," she grinned, "You do have a stand, right?"

"Oh, probably," he said, "I hope."

"Then let's find that first," she said, "You'll look silly holding the tree up while I drive to the store to buy one if we can't find yours."

A half-hour later the tree was up, dripping a little from the melting snow. An hour after that, it was decorated with the few ornaments that Cale still owned and he was right about not having any lights.

"I don't care," Sylvia smiled, "You just have to want lights."

When he asked her what she'd meant, Sylvia became a little coy, "Let's just wait and see," she said, and he knew better than to push it, so he nodded vaguely.

They ended up on the floor again, sitting like a couple of children admiring the tree as they talked. The wind picked up even more and Cale got that feeling again, so he broke out the foul weather lamps and lit them, but when he turned around, Sylvia was wearing his old sweatshirt again and nothing else.

Cale got the hint and he gathered the cushions and the blankets. She had him out of his clothes in a minute before she looked into his curious gaze and smiled, "I dunno, Cale. I just want to be here with you like this. It feels really good to me."

They traded a lot of quiet kisses for a long while and he kissed his way down her throat to her breasts where he spent a long time making her giggle as he nuzzled them.

"They never amounted to very much," she smiled as she held his head to her breast, "They grew some that summer, and then that was about it."

He groaned out a quiet sentence and she had to ask him what he'd said.

"Once perfection is attained," he said in the voice of what he imagined a college professor to sound like, "nothing more is required."

Sylvia laughed then, a really free laugh that surprised her and sounded so good to Cale. They went to sleep just like that, though Sylvia was amazed to find herself lying on Cale's chest when she awoke. She didn't move for a long while, just listening to him breathe and the way that his heart could make her head move just a little as it beat.

She knew it when he woke up. His breathing changed then, but he didn't move for a long time.

"Are we going to lie like this all day?" She asked and he chuckled a little, "Well that was my plan," he smiled, "I figured that if I just stayed like this, you'd get up and let Rufus out. But I've gotta do the same thing that he probably has to, so ..."

He was about to ask her to move when he saw the large dog's head there above Sylvia's, looking down at him expectantly. She felt Rufus' breath on her ear and chuckled. "I'd have liked to just lie here with you for a little longer, but I'm pretty sure that right now, all of us need to pee, so I'll race you for the warm spot -- you get to take Rufus out, by the way."